Members back school of social care’s closure

Bosses at The University of Reading have decided to close its department which trains social workers in a bid to save money.

The university’s governing body voted to shut its School of Health and Social Care in September 2011.

It turns out around 65 social workers each year, as well as nurses and counsellors.

On Friday, 23 members supported the senior management board recommendation to close the school, which has 350 students, with four votes against and one abstention.

The decision follows an internal review of the department which concluded that the “strategic importance of the school is limited” and it was not corporately viable to keep it open.

Last week scores of angry students, staff and academics staged a demonstration against the plans and launched a petition which attracted more than 300 signatures.

Ann Quinn, who teaches at the department and is a member of the University and College Union, believes the closure will hamper Reading’s ability to improve its child protection services.

“There is no logic whatsoever in closing this school,” she said. “It provides invaluable training and is completely self-sustaining.

“The closure of the school will have a major detrimental effect on local social care agencies and ultimately on the people who use social work services.

“The UK is desperately short of social workers at the moment and Reading should be at the forefront of provision, not scaling things back. It can only exacerbate recruitment and retention difficulties locally.”

Reading West MP Martin Salter described the decision as “disgraceful” and “ludicrous”.

“It beggars belief that at a time when local authority social service departments need more than ever the support and training that Reading University provides, it has been announced that they are to close their School of Health and Social Care,” he said. “I have previously lobbied Universities’ Secretary John Denham to intervene to save this invaluable service and I will continue to do so.

“It cannot be right that we will see a situation where there is no social work course available in Berkshire.”

Don Taylor, from the British Association of Social Workers, said the closure could cause a huge increase in the number of vacancies in social services in Berkshire.

“Because it has such a good reputation it attracts people from all over the country, many of whom will go on to jobs within the Berkshire region,” he said.

“We are very concerned that the most vulnerable people in the community in Berkshire are going to miss out and not receive the services they should do.”

No further recruitment will take place for the school, the university said in a statement. It went on: “Particular factors affecting the school include its lack of access, now or in the future, to strategic health authority contracts, the lack of a critical mass of expertise in social works to achieve excellent research and the small scale of the school and its programmes, particularly nursing and counselling.

“The university takes its responsibility to staff and students very seriously and their interests will be our priority until the school closes.”

A restructuring committee will now be set up and the university will consult staff and trade unions to avoid compulsory redundancies where possible.

A transition management group will also be established to ensure existing social work students are able to complete their courses.

The school is the second department to be axed in little more than two years after the physics department was closed due to lack of funding.

It follows the closure of the sociology department in 2005.

The university also revealed a funding deficit which means, come October this year, it may stop its Open Programmes. It includes day and evening courses in languages, archaeology and history, which are enjoyed by many Reading folk.

Professor Gordon Marshall, vice-chairman of the university, has previously said: “We regret closing any activity at the university but the university is under great financial pressure. We have to make savings of many, many millions and protect the areas where we have excellence.”